Arizona State men's basketball team ready for 2-game Pac-12 set in Oregon
Last season the Arizona State men's basketball team went to Oregon a struggling bunch.
The Sun Devils pulled out an overtime victory then went on the road again and registered an impressive non-conference win over Creighton.
ASU could not maintain that momentum the rest of the season.
This year, the Sun Devils (13-3, 4-1) are headed to the Pacific Northwest in a completely different situation. They are playing well and already have momentum thanks to an intense defensive presence and spirited team chemistry.
The Sun Devils will be in Eugene to face Oregon (9-7, 3-2)at 7 p.m. on Thursday, then head down the road for a 2 p.m. showdown Saturday against Oregon State (7-9, 1-4) in Corvallis. They have won four of five conference games thus far, but four of those games have been in the friendly confines of Desert Financial Arena.
The Sun Devils were picked seventh in the preseason Pac-12 coaches poll but currently sit third, in striking distance of UCLA (14-2, 5-0) and Utah (12-5, 5-1) and, surprisingly, ahead of rival Arizona (14-2, 3-2).
Oregon has been hovering around the .500 mark but is coming off an upset of Utah on Saturday, and the Ducks are particularly tough at Matthew Knight Arena. In fact, ASU's win there last season was its first in Eugene since 2011 and it was the Sun Devils' first victory in that particular venue which opened in 2011 (a week after ASU beat the Ducks in the previous facility).
"It's a hard place to play," ASU coach Bobby Hurley said this week. "Not many teams have had success in that building since I've been coaching in this league. They're a very talented roster and (coach) Dana Altman, I think everyone has a lot of respect for him and the basketball community for what he does and how he gets his teams playing better. We're preparing for that game and then we'll get ready for Oregon State on Saturday. "
ASU's only road conference game thus far was in Colorado, with the Sun Devils prevailing 60-59 on a 3-pointer by Desmond Cambridge Jr. with 2.9 seconds left. But that doesn't mean Hurley's squad has not been battle-tested away from Tempe. ASU is 2-2 on the road and 3-0 on neutral court.
They played six out-of-conference games away from home, a good number for a Power 5 school. Most notable are the neutral court wins, one over Creighton in Las Vegas, and victories over VCU and Michigan at the Legends Classic in Brooklyn.
"Makes you feel a little better that we've had that experience of doing it, three non-conference true road games and then the Colorado game," Hurley said. "Hopefully we build off what we've been able to do the past week and that helps us as we hit the road."
ASU has two Quad 1 wins this season, an important factor when it comes to pushing your resume for a postseason bid at the end of the season. Oregon's win over Utah boosted the Ducks enough in the NET rankings that if ASU were to win this game it would also be a Quad 1 win.
ASU has thrived off a defense that is limiting foes to a 37.1 field goal percentage, good enough for seventh among 352 Division I programs.
Oregon has been up and down. It has four losses to nationally ranked foes — UCLA, Houston, UConn and Michigan State — with other setbacks coming to UC Irvine and Utah Valley. The Ducks also lost 68-41 to Colorado.
"We have a lot of respect for our opponent and what Oregon has done over the years," Hurley said. "They've been one of the top programs in our conference for years now. It should not be that difficult for guys to see that. They watch a lot of basketball so they know over the years how good Oregon has been. It's a brand. It's a name so motivation won't be an issue. Just focus on what we do well and find ways to attack them on the other end."
It hasn't been that long since ASU last swept a Pac-12 trip. That occurred when the Sun Devils swept the Mountain schools, Utah and Colorado, on Feb. 24-26 last season.
Cambridge cherishes 2,000
Senior guard Desmond Cambridge Jr. hit the 2,000-point plateau in ASU's 73-65 win over Washington on Sunday. He needed five points and got six, the eclipsing bucket coming when he hit a 3-pointer with 3:52 left in the game to give the Sun Devils a 66-48 lead. It wasn't the best of games as he was just 2-for-9 from the field.
"It was especially crazy because I couldn't hit anything," Cambridge said, talking to the media for the first time since the milestone. "I knew going in I only needed five points, especially after I got an offensive rebound and I was wide open and got a put back and it rimmed out. That's when I knew it just wasn't meant to be. Then when I hit the shot I did to make it, I realized it was all for a reason because that was a pretty cool shot, if I may so so myself. And I liked how I went into it."
Making the moment all the more special was that for the first time he is playing along side brother Devan, with each transferring from their respective schools over the summer so they could play together. Devan had a stellar game with 18 points on a 9-for-14 effort from the field that included six dunks.
"I was just watching him and enjoying the show because I had a front row seat on the court so that was cool," he said.
The two enjoy giving each other a hard time though.
"I'm real tough on him. Everyone else is gonna make him feel good so it's my job to make him feel bad so that's what I do. But I was real proud of him. He showed why he's the Bounce Man."
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona State men's basketball set for 2-game Pac-12 trip to Oregon
